Q143389

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Key facts

Discovered by

Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )

Discovery site

Goethe Link Obs.

Discovery date

13 October 1953

Named after

Kenneth P. Williams , (professor of mathematics at IU)

Alternative designations

1953 TN 2 · 1939 EO, 1953 VJ · 1966 TN

Minor planet category

main-belt · Flora , background

Observation arc

63.73 yr (23,276 days)

Aphelion

2.6340 AU

Perihelion

1.7436 AU

Semi major axis

2.1888 AU

Orbital period sidereal

3.24 yr (1,183 days)

Mean anomaly

297.61 °

Mean motion

0° 18 15.84 / day

Inclination

4.2352°

Longitude of ascending node

304.47°

Argument of perihelion

28.831°

Dimensions

6.38 ± 1.47 km , 6.982 ± 0.183 km , 7.47 km (calculated)

Synodic rotation period

8 h , 36 h

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Diameter

6.982

Orbital period

1183.448438464552

via Wikidata · CC0